Winning the Duke – Jenn Langston

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Grace Denton’s first Season solidifies her decision to never marry. How can she? The London gentlemen are boorish and unappealing. When reunited with the handsome, yet brooding Braiden Everett, his hidden charm captivates her. If she marries him, she could obtain her dream of having a child of her own and a husband she can stand to be around. Despite his contentions to a union, she is confident their connection will help him as well.…

Welcome back everyone, I hope you've been enjoying my posts and continue to enjoy them.

I really enjoyed reading this book, right from the get go I felt that it spoke to me in a way that some of the other books haven't. Grace is the main point of view for this story however it does also switch to Braiden's point of view.

We start of with Grace in London where she's desperately trying to get her mother's attention regarding who she is to marry. Her mother doesn't seem to care who she marries, whether it's a beggar or a prince, and all Grace want's is her mother's approval. Grace's trusty friend suggests that Grace uses the holiday time at her sisters to relax from the husband hunting and just enjoy herself.

Braiden on the other hand wants to wallow in self pity and continue to drink himself into oblivion. The only reason he decides to go with his cousin, Thomas, to his families regular Christmas gathering is to try and marry Thomas off so that he doesn't have to go through that again. And we learn it's because he married a harpy the first time around who ruined him for any other future marriage prospects.

Turns out they are both going to the same party! However, when Grace arrives it turns out her sister has invited a number of new gentlemen to help Grace choose a husband. Which Grace is NOT happy about! Braiden arrives later that same day and discovers that the extra men have been invited to marry Grace off and decides that Thomas should be in the running. When talking to Grace about how she feels about this situation he plants the idea of the perfect gentleman in her head, intending for it to describe Thomas. As luck would have it, and a number of unfortunate run in's with some of the other gentlemen, Grace decides that only Braiden will do for her. Now she just needs to convince him of this. I feel like this was me a few years ago so I really felt for Grace and how she knew what she wanted and just wanted to skip to the part where she had it.

We spend quite some time on convincing Braiden that his previous wife was wrong and that it's ok to love Grace before he finally relinquishes enough to marry her. Once they do marry he refuses to sleep with her even though he knows she wants children. Braiden ends up taking Grace to her sister's to spend time with her since she'd just given birth to a second child and attempts to avoid sleeping with her. He finally gives in and sleeps in the same bed as Grace, however he makes sure nothing other than sleep happens. And this feels like even though he's given in to marrying Grace he's not 100% committed. And I'm sure a lot of girls feel like this in their relationships until they reach the tipping point and their guy finally realises that they are all in and can commit.

Next thing we know Braiden takes Grace back to his estate hoping that she will be distracted while there. While there we get the feeling that Braiden's elderly (and mentally ailing) mother doesn't like Grace very much. After a while Grace gives up on Braiden ever coming around and leaves for London on foot. Which results in her breaking her ankle and Braiden finds her laying on the ground and rushes her to his hunting lodge. Turns out this was all that was needed for Braiden to finally give in and sleep with Grace! And this was Braiden's tipping point, when he can't stand to see Grace in pain, can't stand to loose her to anyone else and realises he needs to embrace his fears and take a leap of faith into this relationship with Grace.

Fast forward a while and Grace gets kidnapped while Braiden is in one of his "I hate Grace" moods and so doesn't notice that she's been kidnapped. Luckily he comes to his senses and realises she's been kidnapped and figured out by who in just enough time to save her. And he ensures the kidnapper pays for also being responsible for killing his first wife. I don't understand why Grace would let Braiden off the hook so easily, however I don't forgive as easily as she does. And that's one of the things that makes her who she is and one of the many reasons why Braiden loves her. From this excursion Braiden learns a lot about his family, who those close to him really are and what he really needs to be able to move forward and be happy.

I finished this book mostly happy with everything, and there was nothing that really bugged me which I found really nice for a change. And the cool thing is it turns out this is the second book in a series. So I will DEFINITELY be coming back to this series once I get through a few more books in my TBR pile.

The next book I will review is "Awakenings" by C.E. Sundstrom, an author I came across at the Clunes Booktown Festival. I can't wait to read this and find out what this is about since the author's description had me coming back hours later to buy the book because I just HAD to know what happened in this book. I look forward to seeing you next week.